Bosnia by Aleksander Hemon has also been published on Guernica Magazine. Be sure to read his article, and discover how Deda Mraz was politicised and outcast in the post-war search for identity.
“Teacher Fatka told me in a revealing whisper about the sleepless night she had spent worrying about a child whose parents were the only ones who declined religious instruction for their kid. She kept tossing and turning, trying to figure out how to tell the child to leave the religious instruction class. She envisioned him leaving his friends behind to roam the hallways alone and she could not imagine a way to do it painlessly. When the time arrived and the religion teacher entered the class, the child picked up his stuff and was ready to leave, but his best friend decided to join him, so he wouldn’t be alone. The story suggested that the common life was possible only in exclusion, on the fringes. “We are deepening the chasm,” she sighed.”
Read the rest of his article here
